A stunning meal-prep project: hand-rolled pasta sheets striped with spinach and squid-ink (or beet) dough create dramatic pinstripe ravioli in three flavors — a silky ricotta with aged cheese and nutmeg, a savory veal-and-porcini with a hint of wine, and a bright spinach-ricotta where lemon and cream cheese tame the green. All three freeze beautifully and cook from frozen in under 5 minutes.
Ingredients
600 g flour
6 Egg
4 Egg Yolk
2 tbsp Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
salt
170 g spinach, washed, stems removed
2 tsp Squid Ink
2 tsp Beet Powder, alternative to squid ink for pink/red stripe
680 g Ricotta, drained in a fine-mesh strainer for 30 min
80 g Parmesan, finely grated
40 g Pecorino Romano, finely grated
1 Nutmeg, for grating
2 lemon, zested and juiced
115 g Cream Cheese, softened
340 g Ground Veal
28 g Dried Porcini Mushrooms
2 Shallot, finely minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
60 ml White Wine
4 sprigs Thyme
2 tbsp butter
Black Pepper
100 g Semolina Flour, for dusting
Steps
Colored Pasta Doughs: You'll make three doughs: plain (yellow), spinach (green), and squid ink or beet (black or pink). Divide the 600 g of 00 flour into three equal portions of 200 g each.
Plain dough: Mound 200 g flour on a clean surface, make a well, add 2 whole eggs + 1 yolk + ½ tsp salt + 1 tsp olive oil. Beat with a fork, gradually incorporating flour, then knead 8–10 min until smooth and elastic. Wrap tightly in plastic.
Spinach dough: Blanch 85 g of the fresh spinach in boiling salted water for 60 seconds, transfer to ice water, squeeze bone-dry, then blitz in a blender until a smooth paste. You need 2 tbsp of paste. Mound 200 g flour, make a well, add 2 whole eggs + 1 yolk + the spinach paste + ½ tsp salt + 1 tsp olive oil. Knead 8–10 min until smooth and uniformly green. Wrap tightly.
Ink/beet dough: Mound 200 g flour, make a well, add 2 whole eggs + 2 yolks + 2 tsp squid ink (or beet powder dissolved in 1 tsp water) + ½ tsp salt + 1 tsp olive oil. Knead 8–10 min until smooth and deeply colored. Wrap tightly.
Rest all three doughs at room temperature for at least 45 minutes.
Fillings — Ricotta & Aged Cheese: In a bowl, combine 340 g of the drained ricotta, all of the Parmigiano-Reggiano, all of the Pecorino Romano, a generous grating of fresh nutmeg (about ¼ tsp), the zest of 1 lemon, a big pinch of salt, and several grinds of black pepper. Stir vigorously until smooth and creamy. Taste — it should be savory, a little sharp from the Pecorino, fragrant with nutmeg, and just barely lemony. Adjust salt. Transfer to a piping bag or zip-lock bag and refrigerate.
Fillings — Veal & Porcini: Cover the dried porcini with 180 ml of just-boiled water and soak 20 minutes. Lift out the mushrooms (reserve the soaking liquid), squeeze dry, and finely chop. Strain the soaking liquid through a coffee filter or paper towel and set aside.
Melt butter in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add shallots and cook 3 min until soft. Add garlic and thyme leaves (stripped from 2 sprigs) and cook 1 min until fragrant. Add the ground veal, breaking it up, and cook until no pink remains and the meat is starting to brown, about 5–6 min. Season well with salt and pepper. Add the chopped porcini and stir 1 min. Pour in the white wine and let it bubble away completely, about 2 min. Add 3 tbsp of the reserved porcini liquid and cook until the pan is nearly dry. Remove thyme stems. Let cool completely, then pulse briefly in a food processor until a cohesive but still-textured paste. Taste and adjust salt. Transfer to a piping bag and refrigerate.
Fillings — Spinach & Lemon Ricotta: Blanch the remaining 85 g of fresh spinach in boiling salted water for 60 seconds, shock in ice water, squeeze completely dry (really wring it out), and finely chop. In a bowl, combine the remaining 340 g drained ricotta, the cream cheese, the zest and juice of the second lemon, the chopped spinach, a pinch of salt, and several grinds of black pepper. The cream cheese adds richness and mellows the spinach's bitterness; the lemon lifts everything. Stir until smooth. Taste — it should be bright and creamy with spinach as a supporting note, not the star. Transfer to a piping bag and refrigerate.
Rolling Pinstripe Sheets: Dust your work surface and pasta machine with semolina. The pinstripe technique: roll each dough through the machine to setting 5 (medium-thin). Cut each sheet into long strips about 1.5 cm wide. Lay strips side by side, alternating colors (e.g., plain–spinach–plain–ink–plain, or any pattern you like), and gently press them together. Run this striped slab back through the pasta machine on setting 5, then 6, then 7 (thin but not translucent). The stripes will compress into elegant pinstripes. Cut the finished sheet in half lengthwise — one half is your bottom sheet, one is your top.
Work in batches: roll enough for one filling at a time, fill, seal, and set aside before rolling the next batch. Keep unused dough wrapped.
Filling & Cutting Ravioli: Lay a bottom sheet on a semolina-dusted surface. Pipe or spoon heaped teaspoons of filling in a row, spaced about 5 cm apart and 2 cm from the long edge. Brush around each mound lightly with water using your finger. Lay the top sheet over, pressing firmly around each mound to push out air and seal. Use a fluted pasta wheel or sharp knife to cut into individual ravioli squares (about 6×6 cm). Press edges firmly with a fork to double-seal. Place finished ravioli in a single layer on semolina-dusted baking sheets. Repeat for all three fillings — you can use different stripe color combinations for each filling so they're visually distinct (e.g., yellow+green for ricotta, yellow+black for veal, green+black for spinach).
Freezing Instructions: To freeze (the right way — no sticking, no tearing):
Arrange finished ravioli in a single layer on semolina-dusted baking sheets, not touching each other.
Freeze uncovered for 1–2 hours until completely solid (flash-freeze).
Transfer the frozen ravioli to labeled zip-lock freezer bags or airtight containers, separated by parchment paper if stacking. Squeeze out as much air as possible.
Label each bag with the filling name and date. Keeps up to 3 months in the freezer.
To cook from frozen (do NOT thaw first):
Bring a large pot of generously salted water to a rolling boil. Drop frozen ravioli directly in — do not crowd (cook in batches of 8–10). They'll sink, then float. Cook 4–5 minutes from when they float, until the pasta is tender and the filling is hot through. Taste one to check. Drain gently with a spider or slotted spoon.
Serving suggestion: Brown 3 tbsp butter in a skillet until nutty and golden, add a squeeze of lemon and a few fresh thyme leaves, toss the drained ravioli gently, finish with extra Parmigiano and flaky salt.
Makes
24 ravioli Ricotta & Aged Cheese Ravioli
24 ravioli Veal & Porcini Ravioli
24 ravioli Spinach & Lemon Ricotta Ravioli
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KYKyran Adams✦ Top reviewer★★★★★★★★★★Jul 2, 2026
Worth the effortMake it again
so delicious! will definitely try to roll my pasta as thin as possible next time. The fillings were to die for.
